


Feed the Plants

by pennysparrow



Series: Flower Shop AU [2]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Gen, M/M, Mild Language, Minor David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Minor Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins, Modern Era, Musical References, Plants, minor dc comics references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-18 00:00:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14200488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennysparrow/pseuds/pennysparrow
Summary: Kath wants to do something nice for her and Sarah's one-month anniversary but she needs some help.





	Feed the Plants

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a stress reliever to stave off nerves and ended as a celebratory fic. Set about a month after Paper Petals although can be read on its own.

Katherine was pacing. Her feet automatically walking her in a path back and forth in front of her coffee table. She half suspected that the apartment below her could hear the slap of her feet. The boys littering her living room didn’t comment, although Crutchie was giving her the look that said “You’re going to wear a hole right through the floor.”

She reached the exact center of her path and pivoted to face her small audience, clasping her hands together with a small but sharp clap. Katherine took a deep breath and addressed the coffee table as she began to speak.

“So, Sarah and I are nearing our one-month anniversary and I really want to do something special. After wracking my brain I’ve come to the conclusion that – loathe as I am to say it – I need help,” she looked up at the group in front of her, biting her lip at their looks of shock and amusement.

Katherine found herself holding her breath as Darcy shot her a mischievous smile. “Well you’ve finally come to your senses. For an intelligent person you sure are stubborn,” he teased, “and suck ass in the romance department.”

If her beloved, thrift-store found coffee table wasn’t between them Katherine might have throttled him. Darcy was one of her oldest friends and as such he knew exactly how to push her buttons. “I invited you here and I can uninvite and kick your ass out just as easily,” Kath growled.

“Whoa there Ace, you know that Darcy doesn’t mean that,” Jack had leapt up from where he had perched himself on the arm of her couch. He was already halfway toward her with a hand out to rub her back in an attempt to soothe her flaring temper.

Katherine caught his hand in her own before he could reach her, giving it a tight squeeze and shooting him a tight-lipped smile before letting go so that he could return to his seat. She took a deep breath and shot Darcy a dark look before continuing her pacing. Katherine launched right into her pre-planned spiel.

“I have asked you all here because I care about all of your opinions and you all have some insight into me, and David has the advantage of being Sarah’s twin, so I believe that between the eight of us we can come up with something great,” she took a breath but never slowed her pacing, giving her the distinct air of a general addressing their troops.

“I know the traditional route for this type of anniversary is flowers, however I have nixed that idea for obvious reasons. I even thought of doing something plant related but not flowers, but I have significant reservations,” she saw David open his mouth to interject but Kath stopped him with a hand. “Please hold comments until the end.

“The next idea I had was also the traditional and terribly cheesy concept of a romantic dinner. That was also filed into the crap pile though thanks to my current schedule with this corruption story that I’ve been following. There is no way in hell, heaven, or Narnia that I’m able to make reservations at one of the city’s nicer restaurants and hope to be able to keep them.

“Last but not least is jewelry, also traditional and well-meaning. However, it feels like such a cop-out. And we’ve only been dating a month, even though I am terribly head over heels for her, so it’s a bit much at this stage,” Katherine worried at her lip as she settled back in the center of the room. Kath sighed as she sank to sitting cross-legged on her floor, half on her hardwood and half on the fluffy cream rug. She finished her rant with a half-hearted, mumbled “And that’s what you missed on Glee.”

From where he was settled in her beanbag chair that was leftover from her college dorm days Bill raised a hand. “I’m going to take the opportunity to point out that you picked the completely wrong group of people to crowd source from and that you’re over thinking this.”

There were noises of assent from the rest of the group and Kath felt herself slouch. Bill always had a weird way of injecting confidence in his speech, but she could have really done without it on that statement.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this. Look Pulitzer, I’m not saying our help will be any good but for you we’ll try,” Spot’s exasperated voice cut through the beginning of Kath’s self-pity wallowing. She perked up and shot him a smile. “But you’re buying pizza.”

She fished her phone out of her back pocket as her boys began yelling topping suggestions at her.

Roughly an hour and one large pepperoni and sausage and one large plain pizza later Kath felt confident that they could set to work tackling her problem. She had taken Jack’s perch on the arm of the couch as he had managed to squeeze himself between Crutchie and Davey somewhere around his third slice. On Crutchie’s other side Race was still working on the small pile of crusts that Spot had deposited on his boyfriend’s plate and glaring at Jack. She only knew this though because Race couldn’t seem to do anything without being overly dramatic and so he was leaning so far forward that he was practically off the sofa and as such Kath didn’t really see what the problem was. She was going to point this out when Davey turned slightly to address her.

“So, you know you could get her flowers?” He told her sheepishly.

Katherine frowned and moved to sit on the floor between her sofa and the Bill occupied beanbag so that she could look at Davey without the fear of falling off the arm of her own piece of furniture. “But you guys own a flower shop. She has flowers all the time. I’ve been to her apartment, I know that she takes home the leftovers or whatever you call them.”

“Yeah,” Davey chuckled, “but taking home flowers and being _given_ flowers are two very different things Kath.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, around them their friends had continued the easy conversations they had all started over pizza and she liked having the buzz as she took in what David was saying. “So you’re trying to tell me that it’s the intention behind it…”

“Kath, anybody could have told ya that whatever you decided to do for Sarah it was the thought that mattered,” Crutchie laughed from where he’d been listening in unbeknownst to her.

She stuck her tongue out at him and reached for Bill’s pile of uneaten crusts; he and Spot were the only ones who didn’t eat them and David and Darcy were the only ones to find everyone else’s willingness to do so weird. She munched thoughtfully, reconsidering the flower angle.

“I don’t really want to get her an arrangement or bouquet, ya know?” she looked at Davey who nodded in reply. “And of course I’d want to support your guys’s shop but I want it to be a surprise…”

“Didn’t one of you say she had a Master’s in botany or something? Get her something weird like the plant from Little Shop,” Jack interjected, still oblivious to Race’s continued glaring.

“No way is Pulitzer gonna give her girlfriend Audrey II,” Spot said with an eyeroll.

“I’m pretty positive those don’t exist outside Mario Kart and that movie anyway,” Darcy chimed in thoughtfully.

“Musical,” the rest of them all corrected simultaneously. Thus, causing Darcy to raise his eyebrows and Kath to give a half-hearted shrug.

“Broadway trash,” she said by way of explanation. “But I think we might be on to something. Weird plants?”

“She loves weird plants,” David agreed.

“Weird plants,” Kath decided with a definitive nod.

What began as crowd sourcing relationship advice had turned into an impromptu movie night. Katherine couldn’t complain though as they all sang along to Rent. She really had been busy thanks to work and it meant that she hadn’t seen most of her friends in person for more than a few minutes. By the end of the movie though she was ushering them all out so that she could get up for work the next day. She was thanking everyone and giving them hugs before shoving them out the door when at last it was only Crutchie, Jack, and Davey who remained.

“So, I might not be _good_ with plants, but I do know them. We need to make a wholesaler run later this week, since I handle the financials it’s normally just one of my parents and myself who go. I could convince them that they don’t need to come with and you could tag along instead?” David raised an eyebrow at her. “That way you can get Sarah her non-lethal Audrey II.”

“Yes! Please. Absolutely. I am so down. It’s just, I don’t know what my schedule is going to be,” Kath grimaced.

“Well you’re free in the morning, City Hall doesn’t open ‘til nine,” Crutchie chimed in with a shrug.

“We could go for eight, they’ll be open,” Davey suggested.

“Eight AM, day after tomorrow?” Kath worried at her lower lip, hoping that Davey wouldn’t find her too demanding. He was doing this as a favor for her to so that she could impress his sister. Although, the past few weeks they’d gotten much closer and she considered him a good friend, not just her ex’s new boyfriend or girlfriend’s brother. Bonding over ‘Jack Kelly is a stubborn idiot sometimes’ stories tended to do that.

“Deal,” Davey grinned and stuck a hand out to shake.

“Nope, ya gotta spit shake or it’s not valid,” Jack pushed their hands away with a grin.

“That’s disgusting,” Davey informed him calmly.

Katherine frowned at him. “It’s a wonder anyone commissions you if you make all your patrons spit shake.”

“Just humor him so we can leave and I can get that Santa Fe song outta my head. I feel like it’s all I hear some days,” Crutchie sighed, giving Kath a hug and heading out the door.

She shrugged and spit on the palm of her hand, holding it out to Davey who grimaced. “If it makes you feel better we’ve both swapped spit with that one,” she jerked her head toward Jack, “so this really is nothing but taking out the middle man.”

David laughed and Jack made an indignant squawking. He spit into his own palm and they shook, David saying he’d text her the address when he got home. She shooed the boys out and set about cleaning up the empty pizza boxes and paper plates.

Two days later Katherine was standing outside of a warehouse in Brooklyn at quarter of eight. She was fiddling on her phone while she waited for Davey, laughing at the boys’ snapchats from the night before. A large white van with the Petal Peddlers logo on it pulled up and parked in one of the designated spots. She waved at David as he hopped out of the driver’s side. He stuck his head back in before closing the door and walking toward her. She watched as Les climbed out the passenger side and slouched over.

“Hey,” David smiled. “I hope you don’t mind that Les was who got to tag along, he’s got teacher in-service and our parents wanted him out of the apartment.”

“I don’t even like flowers, why can’t I be sleeping?” The younger boy grumbled. To Katherine it sounded like he still was sleeping. David just gave him a glare and Kath an apologetic smile. She shrugged it off and slung an arm around Les’s shoulders.

“Because you like me hanging out with you, right?” She asked, when he nodded she continued. “Well I need to make sure Sarah likes me in order to keep doing that so you need to help me.”

“That’s not how relationships work,” Les said but he smiled so Kath knew that he’d help.

She ruffled his hair when the sound of low rumbling caught her attention. She dropped her arm from around Les’s shoulders and turned to face the warehouse. A large door was being pushed open by an equally large man. He lifted a hand in acknowledgement of the trio and David waved back. He motioned that she and Les should head in but they all paused by the door.

“Mr. Jacobs! You’ve got some new faces with you today,” the man boomed and Kath couldn’t help but smile at his jovial tone.

“You’ve met my little brother Les before, I think it’s been a couple years though, and this is my friend Katherine. She’s actually here to pick something up for Sarah for their anniversary,” David gestured to both in turn and Kath did a little half wave.

“Ah, a gift for our very own Dr. Isley. There’s plenty of stuff in here that she’s been eyeing, you’ll find something. And good thinking,” he told her before moving to finish pushing the large door open. Other shop’s vans had pulled up and they were getting out to greet the man as well. David shepherded Kath and Les inside.

Once in the building Katherine was struck by the dim light and overwhelming scent of potting soil. A whole meadow of silk flowers was on her right while a large counter area and shelves filled with supplies took up the left. A metal wall with swinging doors occupied the rest of the area. Katherine looked at David questioningly but followed as he went to the counter. He chatted with the girl sitting there before passing over a list and confirming the orders his parents had already called in. “We’re going to head out to the greenhouse, we’ll be back in a bit,” he said before walking back out the door they had just come in.

“What was that?” Katherine asked, gesturing vaguely behind her as David and Les led her around the side of the warehouse.

“Uh, the wholesalers?” He gave her a confused look and Katherine rolled her eyes. “Ok, you need to be more specific.”

“The big, metal wall,” she said dryly. Any eloquence that appeared in her writing escaping her.

Davey chuckled as they reached the greenhouse, shouldering the door open and nodding at an elderly man who sat on a small stool just inside the door. “It’s the cooler. Like the one we have but supersized. It’s filled with all the fresh product. Normally we just get it delivered but we’ve got a huge banquet on Sunday so special pick-up was needed. We can check it out later if you want?”

Katherine was quick to shake her head. She’d been in the Jacobs’s cooler before and it did not agree with her. The steamy humidity of the greenhouse they were currently in was much more her speed.

“C’mon, the exotic stuff is back here,” Les said as he weaved his way through the tables overflowing with plants. There was a section in the back corner that had been closed off, she figured it must be even warmer in there with the condensation that fogged up the glass. They ducked into the room and Katherine immediately felt her curls begin to frizz.

“So how serious were you about getting Sarah a carnivorous plant?” Davey asked as he began to study the different cards labelling each one.

“Well she was already compared to Poison Ivy once today, it’s kinda true,” Kath shrugged. The two boys nodded and seeing as they were Sarah’s brothers Kath took it as a good sign. “I don’t really want to get her a Venus flytrap though. They’re a bit standard.”

“Yeah and she’s still mourning the death of her last one,” Les muttered, teasing one of the plants they were talking about with his finger. “It’s been two years, she can get over it. Tuck lived longer than her college roommate’s succulents.”

Katherine snorted as Davey rolled his eyes. “Well there’s pitcher plants? They tend to be pretty colorful too.”

She looked at the group of plants David was pointing to and wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know, are they easy to care for?”

“Kath, Sarah resurrected that roommate’s succulents five times. Not that succulents are hard to care for. Better example, she’s had orchids longer than some people have had cats. She can take care of anything so don’t let that limit you,” Davey gave her a soft smile and Kath nodded.

She moved around the small space, studying the different carnivorous plants they had and pointed at one with long vine-like leaves and what looked like red needles covering the leaves. “What about this?”

“A Cape Sundew, fairly low maintenance and it flowers. I think she’d love it,” David grinned at Katherine.

She smiled back at him and reached to pick up the small plant’s dish. “And it looks rad as hell.”

Les and David loaded the back of the van with the boxes of fresh flowers they were picking up as Katherine paid for the plant, accepting a small plastic jar of flies and care instructions from the girl behind the counter.

“Do you want Les and I to take that? I can have Les run it up to my apartment on the way back and you can pick it up after work?” Davey suggested, leaning against the side of the van.

“She works Friday afternoons, she’ll be in today?” Katherine double-checked as the gears in her head began spinning.

“Of course, gotta make sure the Higgins men get their pick-ups,” Davey teased with a smile.

“Well, if you’re willing Les, do you mind hiding it in your apartment and I’ll swing by after work to give it to her?” Katherine asked, already knowing that they’d agree and that Les would be happy to be her partner in crime.

“Uh, yes! Just text me when you’re on your way and I’ll meet you in the back alley,” Les grinned.

“That doesn’t sound shady as hell,” Davey deadpanned. They all laughed and Katherine gave the boys hugs, thanking them both for their help before rushing off. She was still in Brooklyn and needed to be in Manhattan in front of City Hall when the doors opened in twenty minutes.

Katherine hit the save button on her article and sent the link off to Denton. She was positive that she’s scooped _The Times_ as she neatly tied up her corruption investigation with that last sentence. As such Katherine was eager to get out of the office, both to celebrate the end of her huge story and to see her girlfriend.

“You ok there Kath?” Darcy asked when he noticed her bouncing up out of her seat.

“Just peachy. I’m giving Sarah her present tonight and I’m done with my article and I need Denton to tell me I can leave because I deserve it,” she said, striding past him towards their editor’s office.

“You tell ‘em!” Darcy called after her with a laugh.

Knocking on the doorframe, Katherine poked her head into Denton’s office. He looked up from his computer and smiled. “Just who I wanted to see. C’mon in Katherine.”

“So you got my article?” She asked and perched herself on the edge of the chair in front of his desk. The thing seemed older than _The Sun_ itself and Kath was always afraid that putting any more weight on it than strictly necessary would wind up with her sitting on the floor.

“I did! It’s good. You did some nice work on this one, it’ll run front page tomorrow above the fold and be the featured news story on the website. You should be really proud of this,” he told her seriously and Katherine felt her good mood get even better. “There might just be an award in there somewhere.”

“Thank you,” Katherine said, her face hurt she was smiling so hard.

“You’ve been pulling crazy hours, take the next few days off. I don’t want to see you until Tuesday. Now shoo, go enjoy your long weekend,” he waved her out of his office with a smile and Katherine couldn’t help but call another thanks over her shoulder.

She hugged Darcy on the way past his desk before moving to throw her laptop and notebooks into her bag and grabbing her coat. “You heading out?” Darcy asked, still laughing at the surprise hug.

“Yup! Your girl has the top story for tomorrow, off until Tuesday, and a very pretty florist to woo. I will see you for dinner on Sunday night since I’m not back on a normal schedule,” Katherine informed him primly, barely managing to contain her grin.

“Proud of you Kath, now go get your girl,” he smiled and waved as she headed out of the office.

As soon as she hit the sidewalk Katherine was texting Les that she was on her way. Her good luck held as her train pulled into the station as soon as she walked onto the platform and within ten minutes she was texting Les with an ETA as she exited the subway station closest to the shop.

True to his word Les met her in the small alley behind the shop, plant and jar of flies in hand. “She’s in the backroom but Davey’s running the register so just go in.”

“Thanks,” Katherine smiled and walked around to the front. Carefully pushing open the door she grinned at Davey who smirked in response and watched as she walked right into the workroom.

“Can you get me more baker’s fern? And then I want you to take over greening these,” Kath could hear Sarah say from where she was loitering in the doorway. It was all hands on deck to put together the arrangements for banquet Sunday and Sarah was in charge of directing the three employees who were running around the shop on her orders.

“Is this a bad time?” Katherine asked, angling her body so that the Cape Sundew was hidden from view.

Sarah’s face lit up at the sound of Katherine’s voice and she dropped what she was doing to come see her girlfriend. “For you? Never. What’re you doing here so early? What are you doing here at all?”

“The corruption story breaks in the morning because I got the final puzzle pieces this morning,” Katherine knew that there was a touch of arrogance leaking into her voice, but she was proud of herself and if she couldn’t brag to her girlfriend than that only left the boys.

“Ahhh! Yay! Good job!” Sarah grinned, pulling Kath in for a quick kiss. “I’m so happy for you! Front page?”

“Above the fold.”

“Nice!” Sarah went to pull her in for another kiss and a hug but Katherine stopped her, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to keep hiding the plant if that were to happen.

“I actually came by to drop off your anniversary present,” Katherine felt her cheeks heat up as Sarah’s eyes widened.

“You didn’t have to get me anything. It’s only been a month,” Sarah was starting to blush too and Katherine tucked that mental image into the file labeled ‘Things That Make My Heart Melt’, right between Albert’s dog and baby ducks.

“Well I really like you and I wanted to so…” Katherine trailed off with a half shrug. She moved so that she could pull out the Cape Sundew from where she was holding it just out of sight. Sarah’s whole face lit up as Katherine handed it to her. “I thought you could name it Foster, since Les told me that your Venus flytrap had been named Tuck.”

Sarah took the plant and beamed. “I love it! Foster! It’s perfect! Oh, look at you, are you hungry? You want a fly?” Sarah asked, taking the plant over to her counter as Katherine trailed behind. She weaved her way through the vase carefully set up across the floor and settled herself out of the way against the wall.

“Did you get flies with it?” Sarah asked, and Katherine passed her the small jar in answer. She pulled a pair of tweezers out of the front pocket of her apron and carefully used them to extract a fly from the jar. It struggled valiantly but soon the plant was latching onto it and Sarah was dropping her tweezers back into her pocket. “It’ll take about four hours for it to fully consume it.”

Katherine giggled, her girlfriend seemed extremely excited about her bug-eating plant. She felt she should start calling herself Harley Quinn despite the fact that she was the one with red hair.

“What?” Sarah asked with a smile.

“It’s just cute how excited you are,” Katherine shrugged.

Sarah pulled her into a kiss, longer and deeper than the earlier one. When they pulled apart the rest of the employees whistled and clapped. Sarah rolled her eyes and Katherine just laughed.

“Fair warning though, the boys are going to only refer to it as Audrey II,” Katherine said after another quick kiss.

“Its name is Foster and those theater nerds can suck it,” was Sarah’s reply. “Besides, that’s way more Broadway trashy.”

**Author's Note:**

> 20 points to the Hogwarts house of your choice if you found the various references to other musicals and references to Newsies itself. If you want to test yourself there's Little Shop of Horrors, Rent, Hamilton, and Tuck Everlasting. Thanks guys for reading! Like Paper Petals this is based loosely on my own experiences as a reporter and growing up in a flower shop.


End file.
